Some days the pain will start very hard spasms in my bladder-lower bowel area. They will kick me into hard AD in a flash. I know the pain starts at my spine but I've been scanned and scoped to make sure because the spasms hit my stomach first. I'm sure it's just the muscles reacting to the pain. I've looked at a lot of x-rays and test results and think it's just SCI thing with me.
Hi All...
Severe Groin Pain is what I call it... and I do notice it most with gas, unusual bowel programs, or as a hint that "unusual" is on the way.
It's been a long time since I wrote... not getting messages and busier than normal... but I check the archives when I can. And THIS particular problem is a real biggie for me, too. And, while I haven't found a cure, I've found some things that have helped. Some a little... others a lot. Some by themselves and others only in conjunction with something else.
* I've had the full scan, top to bottom, that I think wheelchair was talking about. They put me through a CAT Scan after drinking some thick chalky stuff they tried to say tasted like Piņa Colada (sure!), and not eating for 8-10 hours... nada. Nothing found.
* Or, if wheel meant something else, maybe it was this one where I was scoped from the ends after spending six hours on a commode chair one night, violently blowing clear water out my butt (did you call that "Go Lightly" Wheel?), followed by a barium enema... a heavy, X-ray opaque white metal pumped in "backwards" that shows the shape and size of the bowel and can expose any 'raw' or irritated areas, among other things. Again, nothing found but spasms. (The catheter and balloon used to insert and hold the barium and solution in was literally SHOT back at the X-ray tech who kept saying 'more... more...' just to get the fluid past a spastic area... LOL!) This was actually kinda cool because I could see the X-rayed movie of it all happening. (heheh)
* I got to a point where I had my gall bladder removed because all the Docs could finally come up with was "Referred Pain" (and it was known I had gall stones anyway... so, no real loss) that was causing all my discomfort.. that was 8 years ago... no change.
* Acid is a problem. I need to take two different precription acid reducers. (My insurance hates this! Both meds are supposed to do the same thing... but the trick is that they do it using different biochemical/physiological pathways.) One is an H2-blocker that blocks certain receptors so your body realizes it has enough stomach acids [the ones like Zantac, Cimetidine]. The other type is a proton pump inhibitor [like Prilosec or Prevacid] that stops acid production in the first place. I have to take both... one alone won't work for me.
* In my case, the bowels are also 'overactive' ... they're always on the move so I have to slow them down with a prescription called Librax (can't remember [or pronounce] the generic) and sometimes use Immodium to slow "the propulsive motility of the bowels." Without these, I could be doing a bowel program twice a day and still be uncertain in between.
* Simethicone [Gas-X] really helps the pain you're describing at times. I take one every night at bed time since during the night and waking up are the most painful. I've described it as riding a bike at full speed with no seat... just the post... and then hitting a bunch of speed bumps!
I've found that the most painful times are after I'm lying down and my body starts relaxing, and then suddenly something wakes me and everything tenses up again. (e.g. a loud noise, my wife getting in/out of bed, the cat walking on me or the dogs barking at a noise, etc.) The next thing I notice is that evrything is everything is hyper-sensitive (hyperaesthesia / hyperesthesia). The slightest touch, a tiny movement whether conscious, subconscious, or even passively (i.e. someone else moving me even just a little bit), or simply having clothes or the sheets brushing against the hairs on my arms feels like *FIRE* or being dragged across coarse sandpaper. I'm told it's some type of extreme neurogenic pain, possibly from hyperexcitable spinal neurons, ... but real or not, it's the perception that really matters!
I seriously empathise and hope you can find something that helps.. and maybe pass that info on here if you do... Right now I'm having a terrible time with this pain because it's compounded by diarrhea this week... also painful/stressful on the system. The gas has been getting worse... and that just gets the whole system going haywire again.
Take care & best of luck!
Sincerely,
Tod
